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OldNews

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    16
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About OldNews

  • Rank
    Member

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    North Dakota
  • Interests
    outdoor activities, hunting, roping

LW Info

  • Leatherwork Specialty
    Saddles, tack, chinks, boot and shoe repair and building
  • How did you find leatherworker.net?
    web search

Recent Profile Visitors

2,150 profile views
  1. I have several different swivel knives from most of the prominent makers. It's all about what feels right to you and what works for you. Everyone is going to think I'm crazy, but my favorite knife is an old Tandy that came in a kit purchased when I was a kid. That knife is 30 years old, and still my favorite one. I guess I told you that to explain that buying only one swivel knife probably isn't realistic. Try some different knives and see what fits your hand and your style. If you get one you don't like, give it to a 4H kid who is learning the craft!
  2. I agree. Bowden usually has trees in stock and can ship right away.
  3. Everyone has their own preferences of course, but I usually only make mine 1 1/2" wide so that they fit in all pants instead of just some pants. If the total weight of the leather is at least 10oz you will be fine. 12 oz is better. If I know its going to a guy who carries I usually put a stiffener between the belt and the liner. Just some poster board works fine. I'm not sure the stiffener is really necessary but its easy to do. Good luck!
  4. I just joined this site a few months ago, but have been working with leather for 30+ years. I am absolutely blown away by the quality of some of these new leather workers. I understand that the internet has made learning much easier than when I started, but still, some of these projects are just off the charts good. I'm curious to see if some of the other leatherworkers with grey hair agree with me. Cheers!
  5. Bob at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines got me fixed up. Great service, great advice, great experience.
  6. I would call Tippmann, those guys have great customer service. I've never had a problem they couldn't talk me through.
  7. I picked up a 111W155 at an auction sale a few weeks ago. It came with a bunch of 69 thread and needles sized for that thread. I need to switch over to 138 thread, and I am struggling to find needles. I called or emailed my normal suppliers, (Montana Leather, Weaver, Bowden, etc.) and every one of them sent me to Singer Corp. When I call them they say that they have nothing to do with industrial machines. So, could one of you folks please share a link where you get needles and accessories for your 155 please? I appreciate the help.
  8. I used it once on a repair job where cost was a factor. It is not a very good replacement for the real thing. If you have to, order 2 yds, but for the difference in money I would get real thing. Saddle makers are notorious for using only the highest quality material, and sometimes I don't feel like there is a huge difference between the highest quality, and the middle of the road quality. Not in this case, the synthetic is definitely not even close to the same quality. Good Luck!
  9. I have a BOSS and have been very pleased with it. It's not fast, which I like, but it will literally sew anything you want. I've sewn everything from canvas to saddle skirts, and it has worked very well. The service is absolutely the best in the business. My one complaint is that you never have a free hand when sewing. Especially on something like a saddle skirt, I sometimes have to get another person to work the handle while I keep things straight. It seems like lots of folks think they are an inferior machine, but I would certainly disagree. It's a machine I will never get rid of, because it's just to darn handy to have standing in the corner.
  10. Thank you Wizcrafts! It sounds like this machine is not really for me. I had never heard of this brand, so I was inclined to take the deal just to get a look at one. I'll get it home and clean it up, and probably try and re-sell it. Thanks again for the help!
  11. Thanks Tom. I don't have the machine in hand yet. I'll try to post the only picture I have. It's definitely not a harness stitcher, but it may work for light things. I don't really have anything into it, so if nothing else I have an interesting table to collect clutter!
  12. Through a trade I recently acquired a Waldorf 811. I've never used or heard of one before. Does anyone know if they work decent for light leather. I'm wondering if it would be a machine for sewing chinks or rodeo chaps. Thanks for the help!
  13. bikermutt, I too have been thinking about that. While I completely agree with your theory, I have been trying to figure out how practical it is. It has been my experience that different disciplines have different requirements. Let me give you an example, a draft horse (I still don't know why people ride them) is going to require an very different fit than a Quarter horse, or an Arabian, or a Morgan, etc. That seems to be what makes saddle makers find a niche and stick to it. I would dare say that very few saddle makers in WY have much experience making English saddles for dressage horses. You see my point. So while I love your theory, and I've been thinking along the same lines, I wonder how practical that really is. I for one wouldn't pay one red cent to learn to make a saddle for a draft horse, because I'm never going to do it. I would just be thinking about that college professor who was convinced I needed Humanities, or the English teacher who thought I should know how to diagram a sentence. They were both wrong, and they wasted many hours of my life. I keep coming back to different disciplines. A working cowboy in this day and age has 5-9 horses in his string, and ONE saddle. It works because he rides like horses. Thats what he needs to learn to start with. If he decides he wants to expand into something else, then he needs to learn again. I think that is something jtweatherford needs to consider when putting this together. What kind of saddle do you want to teach someone to build? If it's a ranch style roping saddle, then just be up front about the advertising and promotion of the video. My other concern has been the help aspect of this. If someone doesn't understand something, there has to be a way for them to follow up and ask a question. I like the idea of Skype. These days all you need is a smartphone to video chat with someone, but is that something you charge for? If people keep asking the same question over and over, then it probably wasn't explained well enough in the video. I'd sure like to hear other thoughts on that.
  14. Ken brings up a great point that I had not considered. I guess I was thinking about this from my own perspective. I spend a lot of time horseback, and have made a couple saddles for myself. This video would probably do me some good. However a brand new saddle builder who doesn't have much experience fitting saddles or repairing them should probably get some hands on experience first. Not that they can't learn or even be self taught, but it is a much much steeper learning curve. Another thing I hadn't considered was that I have Quarter horses and only Quarter Horses. My young horses this year are all half siblings, and built alike. I like horses built like this, and thats why I raise that kind. That makes saddle fitting fairly simple, and most makers don't have that luxury. I don't think I would ever argue the fact that hands on is the best way to learn, but I still think there is a place for instructional videos in many areas of leather working. Personally, I could use one more saddle, and I'm probably just going to have someone else build it for me. I enjoy doing it, but I have a hard time coming up with the 100+ hours it takes me to do it.
  15. I would certainly like to "respectfully disagree" with a few of the thoughts on this thread. I ranch here in North Dakota, and we ride a lot horses. It is not uncommon for me to be on a young dumb horse in the morning. That young dumb horse is still not physically mature, yet the same saddle that fits him will fit the old steady horse I use in the afternoon. Most horses of any breed are built the same, period. Yes you can find a few that aren't, and usually that can be fixed with the proper pads. I know people like to believe saddle building is the hardest thing in the world to do, but it really isn't an unteachable skill. There are thousands of saddles out there made by guys who read a book. Wouldn't a video to go with the book be better yet?
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